Break of Dawn

20 | secondhand ulterior motive

RORY HAD NEVER been a social butterfly.

Growing up, she could certainly find her way around most social situations, but making friends had never been her strongest suit. It probably had something to do with the fact that she had moved around a lot throughout her childhood and had always felt out of place wherever she went - girls didn't want to be friends because she was too different, boys didn't want to be friends because she was a girl.

Friends had been few and far between from her preschool days all the way to high school, and even though she had made many acquaintances in college, the friend situation hadn't changed all that much. Rory hardly ever hung out with anyone outside of her very small circle, so it was quite impressive that she was out on a Thursday night without either Madison, Ivy or Damien.

Even more so because she was at a birthday celebration for a guy she had met less than a week ago.

"I thought there was gonna be more people here" Rory said when she and Ariella finally found a place to sit down near the billiard.

Pepe's was the only bar on campus where they didn't require ID, which explained why it was usually crowded Monday through Sunday. Although the place was even more packed than the last time Rory had been there - that eventful night she met Collin prior to knowing he was the Collin Whitaker -  only a few people were there for Omar Ballentine's birthday. When the offensive guard had invited her, Rory had imagined she would be seeing at least half the guys on the football team and then some more people, but the reality was quite different.

There were only five other guys in their entourage. Benjamin Bostic and Juan Navarro, the tight ends, were setting the pool table and Kirk Miguez stood nearby typing furtively on his phone. Will Diaz and Weston Rutherford were down by the bar ordering drinks with the birthday boy.

"Nah, this is the smaller celebration, the real ranger is on Saturday." Ariella answered while she tied a jean jacket around her waist.

It was the first time Rory was seeing her outside of The Grant. At work, Ariella usually wore leggings and that god-awful Huskies polo, so she almost looked like a complete different person wearing a long sleeved black dress, white ankle boots and a good amount of makeup on her face.

Rory hadn't put that much thought into her  own outfit. She had gone with the first shirt she had found in her closet - a black turtleneck that made her feel equal parts cool spy, Jo Stockton and Steve Jobs' long lost sister - with the same pair of jeans and white sneakers she had worn all day to work.

Not exactly the fashionista look Ivy would approve of.

"The party at their place, right?" Omar had invited Rory to that too, it appeared the guy did like to celebrate "You're going?"

"Nah" Ari scrunched her face "Don't do college parties anymore. No offense"

"None taken" Rory shrugged, Ariella was already in her second year at grad school, she was two years older and probably the wiser "Why did he invite me to come then? It's weird, we've known each other for, like, two seconds"

And that was putting it lightly. Rory had basically had three interaction with the guy, none of them long or deep enough to entail an invitation to a birthday celebration. And a very private one at that.

"I have an idea..." Ariella added conspicuously, the white winged eyeliner she was wearing made her eyes appear bigger and her face look more theatrical "You know who's one of OB's best friends, right?" She paused, probably for a dramatic flare "Collin Whitaker"

Rory couldn't deny she had thought of the possibility that he would be there that night, nor she could deny she had applied a second coat of mascara and the most flattering lip gloss she owned just in case that turned out to be truth. But Ariella certainly didn't need to know any of that.

"He's not even here"

"Yet" Ariella added knowingly. Rory bit her lower lip and looked up at the TV where some pre-game show was playing on ESPN.

Maybe she should have worn a more flattering outfit, after all.

The commotion of three larger-than-average guys arriving near their table turned Aurora's attention away from the TV.

"Hey OB, where's Whit?" Ariella asked when the guy was within earshot.

Rory saw the exact moment Omar's dark brown eyes flickered in her direction, before turning back to Ari "He had some directed study shit, he's coming afterwards"

The brown-haired girl looked at her with one eyebrow perked up, as if to say 'Told ya' while Omar watched the whole interaction with a curious gaze.

Admittedly, Rory hadn't thought about the possibility that any of the guys on the team could know about what had happened between her and Collin, but she had a feeling she should have.

She wasn't sure what Omar knew, but he certainly knew something.

But before she could dwell too much on that fact, Weston Rutherford appeared carrying a bucket full of ice with at least ten green bottles inside.

Weston, or Wes as he had insisted Rory called him when they met a couple of minutes before, was the missing piece of the Dream Team - and what a piece he was.

He had been considered the most handsome guy on the Huskies roster - Ariella had told her there had actually been a poll on the school's newspaper website during the previous semester - and with his chestnut skin, chiseled face and penetrating gaze, it wasn't hard to understand why.

Madison wasn't wrong when she said Rory would be surrounded by hot football players.

The rest of the guys gathered around the table to get their own drinks and Rory almost got whiplash from all the parallel conversations that happening. She didn't even try to keep up as her eyes wandered back to the TV where they were showing some footage from previous football games.

"Hey freckles, can you play pool?" Benjamin Bostic asked her from across the table. If she had followed the conversation right, the blonde tight end would be playing with Juan Navarro and Weston Rutherford, but they needed a fourth person to form two pairs since the rest of the guys were not up for it.

"If the question is, do I know how to play it, the answer is yes" Rory started, averting the gaze from a clip of Alex' winning touchdown from his latest game "If you're asking if I'm good at it, I have to admit that's a hard no"

"We'll teach you how to be good, come on, you're my pair" Weston put an arm around her shoulders and hoisted her up from the high stool.

They were playing Bank Pool, and that meant she needed to pocket as many balls as possible without hitting any other on the way - which, in other words, meant she was way out of her league. But the guys didn't seem to care that she was utterly bad at it, and if they did, they certainly didn't show. The three of them, even the two she was playing against, were very patient with her, teaching how to shoot and make better plays.

Rory was starting to think Ariella was more than right to say they were a chill bunch.

Well, maybe not all of them, Rory was reminded the moment she saw Dexter Fayaz walking into the bar.

Dressed in a leather jacket and dark jeans, the quarterback looked like the classic bad boy, which was definitely not a bad look on him. But any thoughts about how good Fayaz looked in all black were shadowed the moment she saw who was behind him.

It didn't matter that the school had voted Weston as the most handsome guy on the team - and Dexter as the second place - in Rory's personal opinion, there was no competition wherever Collin Whitaker was concerned.

*

So, Weston, Dexter and Collin walk into a bar... How exactly do we see that ending?

Thank you all again for the comments and the votes. I would like to add that your answers about Rory's maternal situation will eventually come, but it's good to read about your interpretations of why she is the way she is and about how her upbringing might've affected her - so please don't shy away from those :)

Hope everyone is having a good week and staying safe 😘